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Gambling
is prohibited according to
the following Qur'anic
verses: [O
you who believe! Intoxicants
(all kinds of alcoholic
drinks), gambling, al-ansab,
and al-azlam (arrows for
seeking luck or decision)
are an abomination of
Satan's handiwork. So avoid
(strictly all) that
(abomination) in order that
you may be successful. Satan
wants only to excite enmity
and hatred between you with
intoxicants (alcoholic
drinks) and gambling, and
hinder you from the
remembrance of Allah and
from the prayer. So, will
you not then abstain?]
(Al-Ma'idah 5:90-91).
Ibn
`Abbas, Qatadah, Mu`awiyah,
Ibn Salih, `Ata', Tawus, and
Mujahid said that the Arabic
word maysir in the verse
refers to gambling.
Accordingly, anything that
involves gambling is
regarded as maysir, which is
prohibited by this verse,
except for the kind that
involves competition, which
is permissible according to
a legal Islamic proof as
will be shown later.
Gambling
is also prohibited according
to the following verses: [O
you who believe! Eat not up
your property among
yourselves unjustly except
it bea trade amongst you, by
mutual consent. And do not
kill yourselves (nor kill
one another). Surely, Allah
is Most Merciful to you. And
whoever commits that through
aggression and injustice, We
shall cast him into the
Fire, and that is easy for
Allah]
(An-Nisaa' 4:29-30),
and [And
eat up not one another's
property unjustly, nor give
bribery to the rulers
(judges before presenting
your cases) that you may
knowingly eat up a part of
the property of others
sinfully]
(Al-Baqarah 2:188).
Eating
up other people's property
unjustly has two forms. The
first is taking the money of
someone against their will,
through oppression, theft,
treachery, usurpation, etc.
The other form is taking
someone's money with their
consent but through a
prohibited way, such as
gambling and riba
(interest). In this regard,
Muslim scholars unanimously
agree upon the prohibition
of gambling.
There
is no disagreement that the
money suspended on a risk
between two persons is
considered gambling. The
Hanafi scholars view that
any case involving
suspending money on a risk
is regarded as gambling.
They base their opinion on
the case when a man said to
another that he would give
him a certain sum of money
if the latter ate a certain
number of eggs. When the two
men referred to `Ali (may
Allah be pleased with him),
he said that it was gambling
and he did not permit it.
Accordingly,
Hanafi scholars invalidate
conditional ownership
contracts, whether they are
grants, charity, or selling
contracts. For instance, if
someone grants another a
property dependant on a
future happening, this grant
is deemed invalid and void
in terms of ownership, even
if the latter has already
got it. They also maintain
that any ownership suspended
on a risk is invalid, as
mentioned by Al-Jassas in
his book entitled Ahkam
Al-Qur'an regarding the
following verses: [They
ask you (O Muhammad)
concerning alcoholic drink
and gambling. Say: "In
them is a great sin, and
(some) benefit for men, but
the sin of them is greater
than their benefit"]
(Al-Baqarah 2: 219).
[ O
you who believe! Intoxicants
(all kinds of alcoholic
drinks), gambling, al-ansab,
and al-azlam (arrows for
seeking luck or decision)
are an abomination of
Satan's handiwork. So avoid
(strictly all) that
(abomination) in order that
you may be successful]
(Al-Ma'idah
5: 91).
Al-Jassas,
the imam of Hanafi scholars
of his time, said,
"There is no
disagreement on the
prohibition of gambling,
except for that kind of bet
related to races, like camel
races, and shooting (spear
throwing)." He also
mentioned some proofs from
the Sunnah supporting his
opinion.
Thus,
the Hanafi opinion is that
betting is only permissible
if applied to the
permissible cases mentioned
in the Sunnah, such as
competitions related to
horses, camels, spear
throwing, shooting, running,
knowledge of jurisprudence,
etc. The wisdom behind the
permissibility in these
cases is that there is a
necessity to learn
horsemanship, prepare
horses, shoot, etc., and
such competitions improve
these skills for that
purpose. They also say that
the competition in these
cases is permissible when
the reward is offered in one
of the following three
forms:
1. The
money given to the winner is
from the ruler, whether it
is his own or from the
Muslim state treasury, or
even from another party, and
this is what is called a
prize.
2. The
money is given by one of the
two competitors to the other
and not vice versa, as when
someone says to another,
"If your horse beats
mine, I will pay you a
certain sum of money as a
reward, but if mine beats
yours, you pay me
nothing."
3. The
money is given by two
competitors to a third if
the latter beats them, and
the third competitor does
not pay them anything if he
or she loses. At the same
time, the competition
between the two competitors
is still in process, despite
the participation of the
third. If one of the two
wins, he or she gets the
said money from the other;
and if the third competitor
wins, he or she gets the
money from the two and pays
nothing if he or she loses.
However,
if the said money
competition and the said
money are between the two
competitors alone, without a
third, it is considered
prohibited gambling. This is
the opinion of the Hanafi
scholars in brief, though
some other scholars deem it
permissible to have such a
competition between only two
competitors without a third.
However, the widely known
opinion of the four imams of
fiqh is that it is
prohibited in this case.
What we
have mentioned above are the
permissible forms of
betting. Hence, today's form
of betting, whether related
to horseracing or any other
type of competition, is
considered a prohibited form
of gambling for which there
are no Islamic legal texts
indicating it is
permissible. On the
contrary, the above Qur'anic
verses stress its
prohibition.
The
Lawgiver of Shari`ah
prohibits gambling,
including today's various
kinds of bets, because of
the resultant evils that we
witness every day. Gambling
has caused the bankruptcy of
many bettors and ruined
their homes and families. It
has also led many of them to
commit all kinds of crimes,
such as theft, embezzlement,
and even suicide.
Whoever
reflects on these and other
disastrous consequences of
gambling has increasing
faith that it is out of
Allah's mercy that He has
prohibited gambling as well
as many other things that
have disastrous
consequences.
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